Now that Willow has premiered its first two episodes, audiences have had plenty of time to get re-acclimated with the Nelwyn sorcerer, as well as being introduced to the handful of new characters who make up his band of adventurers. Not least of which is Kit Tanthalos (Ruby Cruz), son of Madmartigan and Queen Sorsha and princess of Tir Asleen. A headstrong and brave young woman, Kit is faced with perhaps the most difficult task of all: spearheading the mission to save her brother Airk (Dempsey Bryk) from the forces of darkness, while also dealing with her own feelings surrounding her family and the newly-revealed identity of Elora Danan, the now-grown future empress of Tir Asleen.
Speaking with Perri Nemiroff for Collider’s Ladies Night, Cruz was able to dive into the relationship between the princess and Elora Danan, a girl who everyone thought was simply a lowly kitchen maid. Kit, who inherited her father’s brashness and her mother’s stubbornness, is less…well, accepting of the young woman, now training with Willow to achieve her full power, than the Nelwyn sorcerer is, and Cruz says that portraying the divide between the two women was “really fun to play with…because that relationship is so layered.”
The star says that, for Kit, suddenly being around someone who’s more important than her, the princess of the kingdom, is an assault on her senses that sends her into a bit of a tailspin. No longer is she the brightest star in the room, overtaken by someone she only ever saw as an obstacle to her parents’ affections:
“[Kit] grew up as royalty, you know? No matter how hard she tries to reject her responsibility and no matter how hard she tries to run from that life that she was born into, she grew up royalty. She grew up a princess in a kingdom that is kept inside of a barrier where everybody knows each other in this small town where she’s the most important person. Having someone else now be the center of attention is really shocking to her, to her senses, to her entire existence. Especially her. Especially someone that she was so sure she was absolutely just an obstacle to get over and move past.”
But, according to Cruz, Elora and Kit are more similar than they might think. “They’re both such big personalities and they’re so stubborn,” she says. “They’re so similar in so many ways that I think holding that mirror up and actually seeing someone be strong and defensive back, I think it was very tough for her.”
Elora is also a soft spot when it comes to the subject of her father, who spent his life protecting the future empress and mysteriously disappeared when Kit and her brother were children. According to Cruz:
“I don’t want to spoil anything, but her father, she grew up hearing stories about her father and Elora Danan, and that side to her is a very soft spot and I think working that in … Their relationship changes so much throughout the whole — I can’t! I don’t want to say another word.”
The first two episodes of Willow are streaming now on Disney+. Check out more of our interview with Cruz below: